Donald Earl Winget
[1] | |
---|---|
Education | Ph.D. |
Alma mater | University of Rochester |
Awards | Robert J. Trumpler Award Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | University of Texas at Austin |
Don E. Winget is an American astronomer and astrophysicist who studies white dwarf stars. He is the Harlan J. Smith Centennial Professor in Astronomy and a university distinguished teaching professor at the University of Texas at Austin. [2]
Much of Winget's research concerns the study of white dwarf stars.
Winget's doctoral research at the University of Rochester predicted the existence of DBV stars, a certain class of pulsating white dwarf. After becoming a faculty member at the University of Texas, he and his colleagues discovered GD 358, a star of this class, fulfilling the prediction of his dissertation and marking the first time in which a class of variable stars was predicted to exist before any instances of it were observed. [3]
With Ed Nather, his colleague at University of Texas, Winget introduced the technique for studying the seismology and the inner structure of white dwarfs called " Whole Earth Telescope". The technique involves coordinating a network of small telescopes around the world to capture small variations in the light output of a white dwarf caused by its seismic oscillations. [4]
One of Winget's projects involves studying white dwarfs using the Z machine pulsed-power electromagnetic wave generator at the Sandia National Lab in New Mexico. [5] [6]
In 1983, Winget was awarded the Robert J. Trumpler Award for an outstanding doctoral dissertation by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. [3] He received the 1987 Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy from the American Astronomical Society. [7]
Donald Earl Winget
[1] | |
---|---|
Education | Ph.D. |
Alma mater | University of Rochester |
Awards | Robert J. Trumpler Award Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy |
Scientific career | |
Institutions | University of Texas at Austin |
Don E. Winget is an American astronomer and astrophysicist who studies white dwarf stars. He is the Harlan J. Smith Centennial Professor in Astronomy and a university distinguished teaching professor at the University of Texas at Austin. [2]
Much of Winget's research concerns the study of white dwarf stars.
Winget's doctoral research at the University of Rochester predicted the existence of DBV stars, a certain class of pulsating white dwarf. After becoming a faculty member at the University of Texas, he and his colleagues discovered GD 358, a star of this class, fulfilling the prediction of his dissertation and marking the first time in which a class of variable stars was predicted to exist before any instances of it were observed. [3]
With Ed Nather, his colleague at University of Texas, Winget introduced the technique for studying the seismology and the inner structure of white dwarfs called " Whole Earth Telescope". The technique involves coordinating a network of small telescopes around the world to capture small variations in the light output of a white dwarf caused by its seismic oscillations. [4]
One of Winget's projects involves studying white dwarfs using the Z machine pulsed-power electromagnetic wave generator at the Sandia National Lab in New Mexico. [5] [6]
In 1983, Winget was awarded the Robert J. Trumpler Award for an outstanding doctoral dissertation by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific. [3] He received the 1987 Newton Lacy Pierce Prize in Astronomy from the American Astronomical Society. [7]